Rack system for automatic dishwasher



May 23, 1967 w. GUTH 3,321,261

v RACK SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER Filed April 22, 1965 s Sheets-Sheet 1 F'lGl INVENTOR. LAUREN W. GUTH' BYW H \s ATTORNEY y 3, 1967 L. w. GUTH 3,321,261

RACK SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER Filed April 22, 1965 3 Sheets -$heet 2 INVENTOR. LAUREN v0. GUTH E ms ORNEY y 3, 1967 L. w. GUTH 3,321,261

RACK SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER Filed April 22, 1965 3 Sheets -Sheet 3 INVENTOR. LAUREN W. GUTH Hxs ATTORMEV United States Patent Ofiice 3,321,251 Patented May 23, 1967 3,321,261 RACK SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC DESHWASHER Lauren W. Guth, Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 449,959 6 Claims. (Cl. 312-269) The present invention relates generally to automatic dishwashers and, more particularly, to an improved rack system for use with an automatic dishwasher.

This invention is particularly useful in the front-opening type of domestic automatic dishwasher wherein a cabinet, having a wash chamber therein, is provided with an access opening in its front wall. Such a machine is provided with a door or closure member for the access opening and two vertically spaced dish-supporting racks are conventionally mounted within the wash chamber for horizontal movement out through the access opening. With such an arrangement, the racks are moved out of the wash chamber for loading and then returned to the wash chamber for operation of the dishwasher upon closing of the door. In the conventional machine each of the two racks, one being an upper rack and the other a lower rack, constitutes a unitary structure having horizontal dimensions only slightly less than the horizontal dimensions of the wash chamber so that, when the racks are disposed within the wash chamber, each will consume substantially all the horizontal area of the wash chamber. With such arrangement, loading of the lower rack is hampered by presence of the upper rack immediately above the lower rack when both racks have been withdrawn from the wash chamber. Most often, the individual racks are designed to accommodate particular articles. For example, the upper rack is usually adapted to accommodate glasses, cups and similar articles, while the lower rack is adapted to accommodate plates, saucers and other generally flat articles. It would be advantageous if the housewife, or other operator of the dishwasher, could approach the dishwasher with a random assortment of articles and conveniently load the articles onto the appropriate rack. With the conventional arrangement, this is impossible inasmuch as the housewife must move the upper rack back into the wash chamber in order to gain access to the lower rack and must withdraw the upper rack in order to load those articles to be received by the upper rack. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an improved rack system which allows random loading of the dishsupporting racks in a front-opening dishwasher and which obviates movement of the racks during actual loading thereof.

One solution which heretofore has been proposed is that described and claimed by Melvin R. Kauffman in US. Patent 3,146,045 which issued on Aug. 25, 1964, and which is assigned to the General Electric Company, assignee of the present invention. Although the arrangement proposed by M. R. Kauifman constitutes a successful attempt to overcome the above-described problem, the present invention provides a significant improvement over the Kauffman structure as will become evident as this description continues.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved rack system for a front-opening dishwasher.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a rack system for a front-opening dishwasher which allows random loading of either the upper rack or the lower rack net and a wash chamber within the cabinet. An access opening is provided in the front wall of the cabinet to provide access to the wash chamber and a door or closure member is provided for the access opening. A lower rack, adapted to support articles to be washed Within the wash chamber, is mounted for substantially horizontal movement out through the access opening. An upper rack, including front and rear sections adapted to support articles to be washed within the wash chamber, is adapted for substantially horizontal movement out through the access opening. Means are provided to support the front section for pivotal movement between a first position wherein it is adjacent to, and at substantially the same level as, the rear section and a second position wherein it is spaced substantially above the rear section.

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention, it is believed the invention will be better understood by the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view, partially cut away and partially in section, of an automatic dishwasher utilizing the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary side view similar to that of FIGURE 1 but showing the closure member of the dishwasher in the open position with the rack system withwithout necessitating further movement of the individual racks once they had been moved into loading position.

Briefly stated, in accordance with one aspect of this invention, an improved rack system is provided for a front-opening automatic dishwasher having an outer cabidrawn from the wash chamber;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view similar to FIGURE 2, but showing a modified form of the present invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary detail view of a component of the structure shown in FIGURE 3.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIGURE 1 thereof, there is illustrated a front-opening automatic dishwasher 1t). Dishwasher 10 includes an outer cabinet 11 having therein a wash chamber 12. Outer cabinet 11 has an access opening in its front Wall for the admission of articles to, and removal of articles from, the wash chamber 12. This access opening is provided with a closure member or door 13 pivotally secured to one wall of the cabinet 11 by a hinge member 14. Hinge member 14 may include suitable counterbalance means to compensate for the weight of door 13 to facilitiate opening and closing thereof. The lower extremity of wash chamber 12 is defined by a bottom wall 15, the periphery of which is in liquid-tight relationship to the four vertical walls of cabinet 11. Bottom wall 15 has a centrally depressed portion forming a sump 16 in which liquid will collect. Disposed within sump 16 and supported by bottom wall 15 is :a motorpump assembly 17 which includes an electrically reversible drive motor 18 and a pump 19. Mounted for rotation at the top of pump 19 is a reaction-type spray arm 20.

Pump 19 has an inlet 21 extending substantially around the entire lower periphery of pump 19 and through which fluid enters from sump 16. Pump 19 is of the type which, during rotation of motor 18 in one direction, withdraws wash fluid from sump 15 through inlet 21 and propels the fluid upwardly into spray arm 20 to effectuate a wash action within chamber 12. During the opposite direction of rotation of motor 18, pump 19 withdraws wash fluid from sump 16 through inlet 21 and propels it out through a discharge conduit (not shown) which communicates with the normal household sewer system. An electrical resistance heating element 22 is supported by bottom wall 15 and is provided to facilitate drying of the dishes within wash chamber 12 upon completion of washing and rinsing operations. Suitable sequence control means (not shown) are provided to sequentially energize and de-energize the various operational components of the dishwasher to cycle 3 the dishwasher through a series of operations comprising a complete automatic dishwashing cycle.

The structure thus far described is substantially conventional and may be modified to a reasonable degree without affecting the present invention. With a dishwasher as thus far described, it has been conventional heretofore to provide separate upper and lower racks each of which constitute a unitary structure having horizontal dimensions substantially equal to the internal horizontal dimensions of the wash chamber. With this arrangement, the lower rack is provided with rollers which allow it to be withdrawn at least partially from the wash chamber onto the opened door which, upon opening, pivots into horizontal alignment with means supporting the lower rack within the wash chamber. It is also conventional to provide the upper rack with a slide mechanism to allow the upper rack to be withdrawn at least partially in a horizontal direction out of wash chamber 12. As discussed above, with this conventional arrangement it is necessary to withdraw the upper rack so that the upper rack may be loaded; however, when the upper rack is so withdrawn it significantly interferes with the attempts of the operator to load the lower rack. It is the purpose of the present invention to provide an improved rack arrangement which will allow the operator to randomly load both the upper rack and the lower rack simultaneously once the entire rack system has been moved into loading position.

The rack system of the present invention includes a lower rack 23 having a front set of rollers 24 and a rear set of rollers 25. Rack 23 may be provided with a plurality f spike-like elements (not specifically shown) to support dishes in a manner whereby the fluid sprayed from arm 20 will suitably effectuate a washing action on those dishes. The rollers 24 and 25 rest upon a surface or track 26 when rack 23 is positioned within wash chamber 12. Surface 26 can be formed by a piece of sheet metal suitably shaped and suitably secured to the adjacent side wall of cabinet 11. Surface 26 terminates adjacent the access opening in the front wall of cabinet 11. It is to be understood, of course, that due to the cut-away of cabinet 11 in FIGURE 1, only one surface 26 is visible; however, two such surfaces are provided, on opposite sides of wash chamber 12 and two sets of rollers 24 and two sets of rollers 25 are provided on rack 23 so that each surface 26 has two front rollers 24 and two rear rollers 25 associated therewith.

Referring briefly to FIGURE 2, it can be seen that door 13 is provided with a surface or track 27 which, when door 13 is pivoted to its normal open position, is in horizontal alignment with the surface 26 within wash chamber 12. Door 13 is formed from sheet-like material which can be readily configurated to provide surface 27 at the same time that the entire door is being formed during manufacture thereof. Due to the necessity of providing room for the lower extremity of door 13 to pivot, a gap is created between surfaces 26 and 27. The two front rollers 24 are spaced :1 sufficient distance so that at least one of the rollers 24 will remain on surface 26 until the other of the rollers 24 reaches surface 27. Rollers 25 are similarly spaced so that rack 27 can be completely withdrawn from wash chamber 23 to rest upon door 13 as illustrated in FIGURE 2.

In the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2, an upperrack is provided and includes a rear section 28 and a front section 29 pivotally carried by the rear section. A pair of supports 30 and 31 are rigidly secured at their lower portions to lower rack 23 and extend upwardly to rigidly support rear section 28. With this arrangement, rear section 28 and front section 29 move as a unit horizontally out of wash chamber 12 with lower rack 23 from the position illustrated in FIGURE 1 to that illustrated in FIGURE 2.

Rear section 28 is provided with a bracket 32 which is rigidly secured thereto and which is pivotally coupled with one end of a link 33. Link 33 is, in turn, pivotally coupled to a bracket 34 at its other end. Bracket 34 is rigidly secured to front section 29. Similarly, a link 35 is pivotally coupled at one end to a bracket 36 which is rigidly secured to rear section 28 and, at its other end, is pivotally coupled to a bracket 37 rigidly secured to front section 29. It is to be understood, that links 33 and 35 are preferably duplicated at the opposite sides of sections 28 and 29 so that both sides of front section 29 are supported. These duplicate links are not visible in FIGURE 1 or 2 because they lie directly behind the visible links 33 and 35.

Links 33 and 35 are shown in FIGURES l and 2 as being substantially parallel to each other. This arrangement, provides a parallelogram linkage system wherein links 33 and 35 constitute two opposite links of the system and sections 28 and 29 provide the other pair of opposite links. In the preferred form of the present invention links 33 and 35 are parallel because such relationship maintains front section 29 in a level orientation thus avoiding excessive tipping of rack 29 during its movement. However, it should be understood that a parallelogram linkage is not absolutely necessary inasmuch as controlled tipping of section 29 may be permissible.

With the afore-described arrangement, front section 29 may be manually pivoted from the position shown in solid lines in FIGURE 2 to the position shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 2. Engagement between the rear portion of section 29 and the front portion of section 28 limits the downward travel of front section 29. In order to limit the upward movement of section 29, and to maintain section 29 in its upper position, a stop 38 is provided on rear section 28 to engage link 35 as section 29 is pivoted. Due to the overcenter relationship of section 29 when in its upper position, the weight of section 29 and the articles contained therein will serve to maintain link 35 in engagement with stop 38. Similarly, an overcenter relationship is created when section 29 is in its lower position to thereby maintain section 29 in engagement with section 28. It is important to note that when section 29 is in its upper position, it is disposed above the rear section and substantially spaced therefrom. Due to the substantial spacing between sections 29 and 28, easy access is provided to section 28 even though section 29 is disposed thereabove.

Note that section 29 never travels substantially beyond the horizontal extremes of lower rack 23. The significance of the immediately preceding statement will be appreciated when one considers that articles or dishes loaded into a dishwasher rack quite often contain residue liquids or food particles which tend to drip or fall from the articles as they are positioned into the rack. The problem of residue liquids or food particles dripping from dishes inserted into a dishwasher rack is attributable to a large extent to the fact that the articles must be oriented in the dish rack, during operation of the dishwasher, in a manner whereby the wash fluid sprayed about within the wash chamber will most efficiently effectuate a wash action upon the articles. In other words, glasses and cups are usually inverted so that the wash fluid and food particles will not be trapped within the glasses or cups. Similarly, plates and other flat articles are generally supported on edge to facilitate cleansing and drying. Obviously, if a glass or cup containing a small residue of liquid is inverted as it is placed into the rack, this residue liquid will drip therefrom. Maintaining section 29 substantially always above lower rack 23, whatever means are provided to prevent the dripping of liquid from lower rack 23 onto the kitchen floor will be effective to further prevent the dripping of liquid from section 29 onto the floor. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2, with a door 13 pivotable about a horizontal axis, the door itself serves as the means to collect drippings so that as the door is closed, after the racks have been return to the wash chamber, any liquids collected on door 13 will be directed into the wash chamber 12 and collected in sump 16.

Turning now to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGURE 3, a front section 40 and a rear section 41 are illustrated as comprising the upper rack assembly which, when disposed within wash chamber 12, supports the articles to be washed in a manner similar to that of sections 28 and 2? described above. The rack assembly is supported by a slide mechanism 42 which includes a slide 43 slidably supported by four rollers 44, each rotatably secured to a side wall of cabinet 11. A relatively large L-shaped bracket 45 is rigidly secured to rear section 41. Bracket 45 includes an upwardly extending portion 46 adjacent the rear edge of section 41 and a horizontally extending portion 47 which extends forward along the side of rear section 41 to terminate slightly beyond the forward edge of section 41. A front roller 48 and a rear roller 49 are rotatably secured to bracket 45 and extend outwardly therefrom to cooperate with slots 50 and 51, respectively, in slide 43. Therefore, it can be seen that rear section 41 can move relative to slide 43 and slide 43 can move relative to cabinet 11 whereby section 41 can be moved rearwardly into wash chamber 12 to an extent whereby the forward most edge of front section 40 is well within wash chamber 12.

Slide mechanism 42 illustrated in FIGURE 3 is disposed on the near side, as view in FIGURE 3, of rear section 41 and cabinet 11. Rear section 41, and its associated elements to be discussed more fully hereinafter, are disposed behind slide mechanism 42 as viewed in FIG- URE 3. It is to be understood that a second slide mechanism identical to slide mechanism 42 is preferably provided at the opposite side of rear section 41 and cabinet 11. However, the duplicate slide mechanism is not visible in FIGURE 3 since it Lies directly behind slide mechanism 42.

A first link 52 is pivotally secured near one end adjacent the upper end of portion 46 of bracket 45. The distal end of link 52 is pivotally secured to a clip 53 which is rigidly secured to front section 40. Intermediate the ends of link 52 an arm 54 is rigidly secured thereto and has its distal end pivotally coupled with a clip 55. Clip 55 is rigidly secured to rear section 41. A second link 56 is pivotally connected at one end to a bracket 57 rigidly secured to the upper portion of rear section 41 and, at its other end, is pivotally secured to a bracket 58 rigidly secured to frontsection 40. A third link 59 is pivotally secured at one end to bracket 45 and, at its other end, pivotally secured to an extension 60 which rigidly depends from rear section 41.

With the above-described arrangement, both sections 40 and 41 may be pivoted upwardly with respect to slide mechanism 42 and bracket 45 to the position illustrated in dotted lines in FIGURE 3. It should be noted that this embodiment of the present invention also contemplates movement of rear section 41 upwardly a short distance as front section 40 pivots through a substantially greater are to terminate at a position spaced substantially above the rear section.

Once the system has been moved to the position illustrated in dotted lines in FIGURE 3, a short projection 61 on link 52 swings into retaining relationship with a resilient retaining means 62 (FIGURE 4) which has one end 63 suitably secured to portion 46 of bracket 45. The other end of retaining means 62 is free to resiliently move away from portion 46 to allow extension 61 to move into retaining relationship with retaining means 62. Retaining means 62 may be duplicated at the opposite side of the system to provide additional stability to the system when it is in the dotted line position of FIGURE 3.

An upper rack arrangement similar to the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2, may be employed with a slide mechanism such as utilized in the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 3. That is, it would be within the scope of the present invention to provide an arrangement including a slide mechanism wherein only the front section of the upper rack assembly is pivotable. Moreover, it would be within the scope of the present invention to provide an arrangement wherein the rear section of the upper rack arrangement is pivotally supported from the lower rack so that both the front and the rear sections of the upper rack assembly would be pivotable. In other words, bracket 45 could be rigidly supported from the lower rack 23 rather than from the slide mechanism 42.

Thus, it can be seen that the present invention provides an improved rack system for a front opening dishwasher which allows random loading of either the upper rack assembly or the lower rack without necessitating further movement of the individual racks once they have been moved into a loading position. Moreover, the loading position of all the rack elements places the individual elements above means to catch liquid or food particles which may drop from articles as they are loaded into the rack.

As will be evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the invention are not limited to the particular details of construction of the examples illustrated, and it is contemplated that various other modifications or applications will occur to those skilled in the art. It is therefore intended that the appended claims shall cover such modifications and applications as do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An automatic dishwasher comprising:

(a) an outer cabinet,

(b) a wash chamber within said cabinet,

(c) an access opening in the front wall of said cabinet to provide access to said wash chamber,

(d) a door for said access opening pivotally secured to said cabinet,

(e) a lower rack adapted to support articles to be washed within said wash chamber and further adapted for substantially horizontal movement out through said access opening,

(f) an upper rack including front and rear sections adapted to support articles to be washed within said wash chamber and further adapted for substantially horizontal movement out through said access opening, and

(g) means supporting said front section for pivotal movement between a first position wherein it is adjacent to and at substantially the same level as said rear section and a second position wherein it is spaced above said rear section.

2. An automatic dishwasher comprising:

(a) an outer cabinet,

(b) a wash chamber within said cabinet,

(c) an access opening in one wall of said cabinet to provide access to said wash chamber,

(d) a door for said access opening pivotally secured to said cabinet for movement between a substantially vertical closed position to a substantially horizontal open position,

(e) a lower rack adapted to support articles to be washed within said wash chamber and further adapted for substantially horizontal movement out through said access opening to a position directly above said door when said door is open, and

(f) an upper rack adapted to support articles to be washed within said wash chamber,

(g) said upper rack having a rear section rigidly secured to and carried by said lower rack for movement out of said wash chamber through said access opening with said lower rack,

(11) said upper rack further having a front section pivotally carried by said rear section for pivotal movement to a position above said rear section and directly above said door when said door is open.

3. An automatic dishwasher comprising:

(a) an outer cabinet,

(b) a wash chamber within said cabinet.

(c) an access opening in one wall of said cabinet to provide access to said wash chamber,

(d) a door for said access opening pivotally secured to said cabinet,

(e) a lower rack adapted to support articles to be Washed within said wash chamber and further adapted for substantially horizontal movement out through said access opening,

(f) an upper rack including front and rear sections adapted to support articles to be Washed within said wash chamber, and

(g) means slidably supporting said rear section from said cabinet for substantially horizontal movement out through said access opening,

(h) said means further supporting said front section for pivotal movement between a first position wherein it is adjacent to and at substantially the same level as said rear section and a second position wherein it is spaced above said rear section.

4. For use in an automatic dishwasher having an access opening, a rack system comprising:

(a) a front section,

(b) a rear section,

() means to support said front and rear sections for substantially horizontal movement out through the access opening, and

((1) means to further support said front section for pivotal movement relative to said rear section from a first position wherein it is adjacent to and at substantially the same level as said rear section to a second position wherein it is spaced above said rear section.

5. An automatic dishwasher comprising:

(a) an outer cabinet,

(b) a Wash chamber within said cabinet,

(c) an access opening in the front wall of said cabinet for access to said wash chamber,

(d) a door hinged to said cabinet for movement between a substantially vertical closed position to a substantially horizontal open position,

(e) a lower rack adapted to support articles to be washed within said wash chamber,

(f) means supporting said lower rack for horizontal movement out through said access opening onto said door when said door is in said open position, and

(g) an upper rack adapted to support articles to be washed within said wash chamber,

(h) said upper rack having a rear section rigidly secured to and carried by said lower rack for movement out of said wash chamber through said access opening with said lower rack,

(i) said upper rack further having a front section supported by said rear section for pivotal movement between a first position wherein said front section is adjacent to and at substantially the same level as said rear section and a second position wherein said front section is spaced above said rear section,

(j) said first position and said second position of said front section both being disposed directly above said door when said door is in said open position.

6. An automatic dishwasher comprising:

(a) an outer cabinet,

(b) a wash chamber within said cabinet,

(c) an access opening in the front wall of said cabinet for access to said wash chamber,

(d) a door hinged to said cabinet for movement between a substantially vertical closed position to a substantially horizontal open position,

(e) a lower rack adapted to support articles to be washed within said wash chamber,

(f) means supporting said lower rack for horizontal movement out through said access opening onto said door when said door is in said open position,

(g) an upper rack adapted to support articles to be washed within said wash chamber, and

(h) means to support said upper rack for substantially horizontal movement out through said access opening,

(i) said upper rack including a front section and a rear section each pivotally interconnected with said lastmentioned means for movement between a first position wherein said front section is adjacent to and at substantially the same level as said rear section and a second position wherein said front section is spaced above said rear section,

(j) said front section and said rear section being disposed directly above said door in both said first position and said second position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,112,733 10/1914 Umphrey et a1. 312-303 X 2,681,843 6/1954 Walker 312311 2,745,707 5/1956 Sebens l34 165 X 2,967,407 1/1961 Melikiau 3l2303 X 3,087,769 4/1963 Guth 312-269 3,146,045 8/1964 Kaufiman 312-303 X DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Examiner.

R. L. BLEUTGE, I. T. MCCALL, Assistant Examiners. 

1. AN AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER COMPRISING: (A) AN OUTER CABINET, (B) A WASH CHAMBER WITHIN SAID CABINET, (C) AN ACCESS OPENING IN THE FRONT WALL OF SAID CABINET TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO SAID WASH CHAMBER, (D) A DOOR FOR SAID ACCESS OPENING PIVOTALLY SECURED TO SAID CABINET, (E) A LOWER RACK ADAPTED TO SUPPORT ARTICLES TO BE WASHED WITHIN SAID WASH CHAMBER AND FURTHER ADAPTED FOR SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT OUT THROUGH SAID ACCESS OPENING, (F) AN UPPER RACK INCLUDING FRONT AND REAR SECTIONS ADAPTED TO SUPPORT ARTICLES TO BE WASHED WITHIN SAID WASH CHAMBER AND FURTHER ADAPTED FOR SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT OUT THROUGH SAID ACCESS OPENING, AND (G) MEANS SUPPORTING SAID FRONT SECTION FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT BETWEEN A FIRST POSITION WHEREIN IT IS ADJACENT TO AND AT SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME LEVEL AS SAID REAR SECTION AND A SECOND POSITION WHEREIN IT IS SPACED ABOVE SAID REAR SECTION. 